The triumph of libertarianism ultimately lies in spreading ideas on liberty. Our aim is to build a solid base of libertarians who are firmly committed to libertarian principles. Once that number reaches a critical mass, I am convinced that society will make a dramatic shift toward freedom.
With that in mind, we have discovered another way to find new audiences for FFF’s uncompromising perspectives on liberty — ebooks! The reason I am writing is to see whether you will help us to capitalize on this exciting way to find and nurture new adherents to libertarianism.
Last September, we published two ebooks on the JFK assassination — The Kennedy Autopsy, by Jacob Hornberger, and JFK’s War with the National Security Establishment, by Douglas Horne. Both of these ebooks were reprints of articles that had already been published on FFF’s website.
Sales of those two books took off at Amazon. Since January, both books have consistently been in Amazon’s 100 Top Best Selling Books in 20th Century American History. That success inspired me to write a new ebook: Regime Change: The JFK Assassination, which has also recently broken into Amazon’s 20th Century American History list.
Of course, these three ebooks serve a particular niche — people who are interested in the JFK assassination. But their success leads us to believe that the ebook market might just be a great way to find new audiences of people who are interested in reading and exploring libertarian perspectives. As you know, we have 25 years of articles on FFF’s website — articles that can be compiled and converted into attractive and easy-to-read ebooks on such subjects as gun control, education, health care, foreign policy, monetary policy, the national-security state, and practically every other aspect of libertarianism.
Consider former FFF vice president of academic affairs Richard Ebeling’s 40-part series titled, “Monetary Central Planning and the State.” It would be a definitive ebook on money, the Federal Reserve, inflation, and Austrian economics. Consider my 12-part series, “The Evil of the National-Security State.” And consider ebooks on health care and education by Sheldon Richman and ebooks on the faults and foibles of the welfare state by James Bovard. They’re all on the drawing board, plus more.
FFF policy advisor Scott McPherson has agreed to write an original ebook for us on the libertarian topic about which he is most passionate. The title: Freedom and Security: The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
We are living in exciting times. Never has the libertarian movement been so large and so dynamic.
For 25 years, your generous support has enabled us to spread our uncompromising perspectives on liberty far and wide. With ebooks, we now have another way to share ideas on liberty and expand our movement. Will you help us to do it?
Yours for liberty,
Jacob G. Hornberger
P.S. Here are some of the things we’ve done to advance liberty since last December:
1. In December, we hosted John Tamny, Political Economy editor at Forbes, for a fantastic talk titled “Why Washington and Wall Street Are Better Off Living Apart.”
2. In March, I did another college tour promoted by local chapters of the Young Americans for Liberty, which took me to four different cities in Florida. I have a specific aim with these talks: to raise the vision of students to the idea of dismantling, not reforming, the welfare-warfare state. The highlight of the trip was when one student said to me, “You began your talk with the power of ideas. I want you to know that I walked in here firmly convinced that the warfare state was necessary to keep us safe. I no longer believe that. Thanks to your talk, I will be walking out of this room tonight a changed person.”
3. In April, in conjunction with the YAL, we held a great conference titled “Stop the Wars on Drugs and Terrorism” at the University of Texas. More than 700 people attended, including libertarians, conservatives, and liberals, as well as students and nonstudents. The speakers were Ron Paul, Glenn Greenwald, and Radley Balko. Ron provided a full defense of libertarianism, including an economic defense. We also had a panel discussion where the speakers answered questions from the audience. The videos are posted on our website and have garnered nearly 10,000 views. While the conference was devoted to the drug war and war on terrorism, the packets we handed out included a copy of my booklet Economic Liberty and the Constitution and our book Your Money or Your Life: Why We Must Abolish the Income Tax, by Sheldon Richman.
4. My weekly Internet show, The Libertarian Angle, now alternates between having different co-hosts and monologues by me on specific libertarian topics. The show, which continues to be posted at Voices of Liberty, has garnered 15,004 views on our YouTube channel since December. A recent co-host, former Washington Post reporter Jefferson Morley, who hosts JFKfacts.org, which, in my opinion, is the best website related to the JFK assassination, shared that issue of The Libertarian Angle with his readers.
5. I have appeared on various shows, including Liberty.me, the Scott Horton show, the Ernie Hancock Radio Show, Liberty Talk Radio, and Free Talk Live. I also gave talks to the Bexar County, Texas, Libertarian Party, and to the Hamline University YAL chapter in Minnesota.
6. Porcfest in New Hampshire, where Bart Frazier, Scott McPherson, and I attended. I gave a talk on Saturday morning